TUSCALOOSA, Ala.-Tua Tagovailoa passed for 340 yards and three touchdowns, but No. 1 Alabama struggled for 30-plus minutes before putting away The Citadel in a 50-17 victory on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide (11-0), which had coasted against Southeastern Conference opponents, went into halftime tied 10-all with the FCS Bulldogs (4-6). It wasn't until 'Bama scored two touchdowns in a 12-second span on its way to a 27-point third quarter that the Tide could rest easy.
Tagovailoa completed 18 of 22 passes in three quarters, including touchdowns of 21 and 5 yards to Jaylen Waddle and a 68-yarder to tight end Irv Smith Jr. He broke AJ McCarron's school single-season record of 30 touchdown passes, reaching 31.
Alabama coach Nick Saban said his team learned a lesson about being mentally prepared, and "I don't really care who you're playing."
"Every team that comes here and plays us is going to give us their best shot," Saban said. "These guys have got everything to gain and nothing to lose, and we've got nothing but downside in the game."
Damien Harris got most of his 83 yards on a 73-yard run in the fourth quarter, but he was injured on the play. He stayed on the ground for a couple of minutes before trotting off after Saban went across the field to check on him.
Saban said Harris appeared to have a mild concussion.
Henry Ruggs III gained 114 yards on six catches.
Dante Smith ran for a 45-yard touchdown in the first half and a 44-yarder in the fourth for The Citadel, whose triple option offense gave Alabama troubles at times. Smith finished with 130 yards on nine carries.
Quarterback Brandon Rainey attempted only two passes, both incomplete, but ran 25 times for 79 yards.
Alabama was coming off back-to-back shutouts of ranked SEC West rivals but lost two fumbles in this one.
Jacob Godek had sent Alabama into the half all even with a 48-yard field goal on the final play.
After the Tide fumbled away the second-half kickoff, the Bulldogs missed a field goal attempt that would have given them the lead.
Finally, Alabama's offense got going. Tagovailoa hit Ruggs down the right sideline for a 54-yard gain. Then he found Jaylen Waddle for a 5-yard touchdown and the Tide regained the lead.
Anfernee Jennings scooped and scored on an 18-yard fumble recovery shortly after that, and it was a more comfortable 24-10 game with a lead that continued to grow.
KENTUCKY 34, MIDDLE TENNESSEE 23
LEXINGTON, Ky.-Mike Edwards had two takeaways leading to Kentucky's first two touchdowns, and the No. 20 Wildcats made several fourth-quarter defensive stops for a 34-23 escape of Middle Tennessee.
Kentucky (8-3) ended a two-game slide but had to survive the Blue Raiders' rally within 31-23 early in the fourth. Wildcats senior linebacker Josh Allen sacked Brent Stockstill for a 7-yard loss on fourth down and set up Miles Butler's 32-yard field goal with 4:01 remaining.
A face mask penalty helped the Blue Raiders (7-4) reach the Kentucky 5-yard line in the final minute before consecutive sacks of Stockstill by Allen and Jamar Watson totaling 16 yards ended that final chance. Allen's two sacks made him the Wildcats' single season (13) and career sacks leader (27.5) as he finished with a career-best 15 tackles.
Edwards provided the initial defensive boost by returning an interception 66 yards for a TD 1:27 into the contest before stripping Zack Rush of the ball on the next drive to set up Benny Snell Jr. for the first of his two TDs for the cushion Kentucky eventually needed to earn its eighth win for the first time since 2007.
Stockstill completed 30 of 33 passes for 293 yards and three touchdowns and Chaton rushed for 98 yards and two scores. But those turnovers forced MTSU to play catch-up as its four-game winning streak ended.
FLORIDA 63, IDAHO 10
GAINESVILLE, Fla.-Feleipe Franks passed for 274 yards and three touchdowns-all in the first half-and No. 15 Florida ran up 600 total yards to rout overmatched Idaho 63-10.
Florida rolled to a 49-0 lead at halftime. Gators defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson returned an interception 26 yards for a touchdown on the first play to start the onslaught. Four other touchdown drives took less than two minutes and the longest of the seven first-half scores came in 2:24.
Franks hit on 19-of-27 passes and led the Gators to a 42-0 lead before he was lifted with 5:22 left in the second quarter.
Freshman Emory Jones, in just his second game this season, played all but two minutes the rest of the game. His first college TD pass was an 8-yarder to Josh Hammond to close the scoring in the first half. Jones finished 12-of-16 for 125 yards and two scores.
Idaho (4-7) avoided a shutout when Cade Coffee connected on a 38-yard field goal in the third quarter and on a 12-yard pass from Mason Petrino to Jeff Cotton with 1:47 left in the game.
MISSOURI 50, TENNESSEE 17
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.-Drew Lock threw two touchdown passes and Larry Rountree rushed for 135 yards Saturday as Missouri trounced Tennessee 50-17 for its third straight victory.
Lock went 21 of 30 for 257 yards and moved into second place on the Southeastern Conference's career passing yardage list. Lock has thrown for 11,599 yards in his career to overtake David Greene, who passed for 11,528 yards at Georgia from 2001-04.
The SEC record holder is Aaron Murray, who compiled 13,166 career passing yards for Georgia from 2010-13.
Missouri (7-4, 3-4 SEC) scored touchdowns on four straight possessions in offensive coordinator Derek Dooley's return to Neyland Stadium. Dooley posted a 15-21 record as Tennessee's head coach from 2010-12 before getting fired during his third straight losing season.
Ty Chandler had two touchdown runs for Tennessee (5-6, 2-5), which lost starting quarterback Jarrett Guarantano to an injury. Keller Chryst replaced Guarantano early in the second quarter and went 7 of 19 for 173 yards with two interceptions.
This marks the second consecutive year that Missouri has beaten Tennessee by a 50-17 score.
Missouri outgained Tennessee 117-(minus-17) in the first quarter but only had a 6-0 lead to show for it after two drives stalled in the red zone, forcing the Tigers to settle for Tucker McCann field goals from 35 and 23 yards away.
The momentum briefly changed after Chryst entered the game. Chryst's 41-yard completion to Jauan Jennings on a third-and-6 play set up a 5-yard touchdown run from Ty Chandler that put Tennessee ahead 7-6.
Missouri regained command by scoring touchdowns on its final three first-half possessions to grab a 26-10 lead at the intermission.
Tyler Badie scored Missouri's first touchdown on a 4-yard run. Tennessee had second-and-goal from the 2 on its next series but settled for Brent Cimaglia's 21-yard field goal. Missouri answered with Lock's 8-yard touchdown pass to Dominic Gicinto.
Tennessee reached Missouri's 28-yard line in the final minute of the half before DeMarkus Acy picked off a Chryst pass and delivered a 76-yard interception return. That turnover gave Missouri the ball at Tennessee's 11 and set up Lock's 3-yard touchdown pass to Johnathon Johnson with 15 seconds left until halftime.
After both teams reached the end zone on their opening possessions of the second half, another Tennessee turnover put the game out of reach. Tennessee's Carlin Fils-aime fumbled on his only carry of the night and Joshuah Bledsoe picked it up and ran 39 yards for a Missouri touchdown that made it 40-17.
GEORGIA 66, UMASS 27
ATHENS, Ga.-Freshman Justin Fields threw two scoring passes and ran for another touchdown, Tyler Simmons had rushing and receiving scores, and No. 5 Georgia protected its playoff hopes by overwhelming UMass 66-27 on Saturday.
Another freshman, James Cook ran for 76 yards on only three carries, including his first two career scoring runs, from 26 and 27 yards.
Georgia gained 701 yards, including 426 yards on the ground, and never punted.
Fields led the Bulldogs with 100 yards rushing, including a career-long run of 47 yards and a 3-yard scoring run. He completed 5 of 8 passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns.
Georgia (10-1) leaned on its quick-strike offense on six scoring drives lasting no more than four plays. Starter Jake Fromm and Fields shared time at quarterback as the Bulldogs avoided looking ahead to next week's state rivalry game against Georgia Tech or the Dec. 1 Southeastern Conference championship game against No. 1 Alabama.
The Bulldogs led UMass (4-8) 42-13 at halftime.
Highlights for the Minutemen were Andy Isabella's second-half touchdown catches of 75 and 45 yards from Ross Comis. Isabella, one of the nation's leading receivers, capped his career with 15 catches for 219 yards and two touchdowns.
Georgia scored touchdowns on seven of its first eight possessions. The one exception was Terry Godwin's lost fumble attempting to field a punt in the first quarter. Joseph Norwood recovered at the Georgia 16 to set up the lone touchdown of the half for the Minutemen, a 5-yard scoring run by Marquis Young.
Finally, with 9:58 remaining in the third quarter, a Georgia drive ended short of the end zone when Rodrigo Blankenship kicked a 40-yard field goal.
Otherwise, it was a productive half for Fields, Simmons and the Bulldogs. Simmons' 49-yard run around right end capped Georgia's three-play touchdown drive to open the game. Simmons added a 71-yard scoring catch from Jake Fromm early in the second quarter. Simmons used his speed to pull away from UMass defensive backs Norwood and Isaiah Rodgers.
Fields' 47-yard run on his first possession set up his 11-yard touchdown pass to Riley Ridley. The run was Fields' longest of the season.
Fromm was 5-for-5 passing for 106 yards and a touchdown.
Third-string quarterback Matthew Downing took over for Georgia to open the fourth quarter.
Georgia was without offensive linemen Kendall Baker (left knee) and Cade Mays (shoulder). Mays had started the last six games at right guard. Also, linebacker Monty Rice was on crutches, wearing a boot on his left foot, after apparently suffering an injury in pregame warmups.
Former Georgia tailbacks Nick Chubb, now with the Cleveland Browns, and Sony Michel, now with the New England Patriots, attended the game and earned ovations when featured during first-quarter timeouts. Chubb and Michel finished second and third, respectively, on Georgia's career yards rushing, behind Herschel Walker.
AUBURN 53, LIBERTY 0
AUBURN, Ala.-Seth Williams caught five passes for 109 yards and a touchdown, Kam Martin ran for 116 yards and Auburn's defense pitched a shutout in a 53-0 victory over Liberty on Saturday.
Auburn (7-4) held a pass-happy Liberty (4-6) offense in check, recording its first FBS shutout in 10 years (34-0 win over Louisiana Monroe in 2008).
Williams, a true freshman, recorded his first career 100-yard game, and Martin passed the century mark for the first time this season. The Tigers offense racked up 531 yards of offense, their highest output against an FBS foe this year. It was also the most points scored since beating Arkansas 56-3 in 2016.
Auburn's defense and special teams set the tone early. Jordyn Peters blocked a punt that resulted in a safety and senior linebacker Darrell Williams had a pick-6. Anders Carlson kicked a 53- and 20-yard field goal and the Tigers led 15-0 at end of the first quarter.
Carlson entered the game just 3 of 11 on field goal attempts of over 40 yards.
After that upstart opening quarter, Tigers quarterback Jarrett Stidham accounted for a pair of scores in the second quarter to put Auburn up 32-0 at the break. Thirty-two points would have been Auburn's third-highest output of the year.
Liberty quarterback Stephen Calvert threw 11 straight incompletions in the second quarter, then hit a 1 of 19 stretch in the third. The junior completed just 9 of 28 passes (32 percent) for 79 yards with two interceptions.